http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/12/official-new-bank-fees-raise-tens-billions-feds
The Obama administration has already rejected imposing a straight fee on bank transactions for ordinary customers. It has also ruled out levies on executive compensation.
In the first case, officials determined consumers would have the transaction tax passed directly onto them. In the second case, the administration determined big banks could re-jigger compensation packages to avoid any new tax, depriving Treasury of revenue and doing nothing to penalize sizable compensation packages or bonuses.
The most likely scenario, the official said, is a tax on transactions larger investment banks make to increase their profits through the use of derivatives or other products.
"Think of this as a tax on risk-taking by big banks," the official said.
The administration's goal is to impose a fee on the risk-oriented transactions in ways that would neither affect smaller banks or discourage bigger banks from lending.
"Mom and pop banks pay for the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) insurance. That's valuable to their customers and that is priced into their business model," the official said.
The tax on high-risk transactions, the administration will argue, is a means to raise funds to replenish unpaid Trouble Asset Relief Program funds.
*** So, I guess that Obama does support a financial transaction tax on large banks. This is not a good thing, because you know it would only be a matter of time before these douche bag, money hungry Democrats place the tax on everyday retail traders as well. And I actually thought we made some good progress today regarding the transaction tax, but after reading this, I'm not so sure!